Mr. Skeffington

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Mr. Skeffington
title card from the film's promotional trailer
Directed by	Vincent Sherman
Produced by	Julius J. Epstein Philip G. Epstein Jack L. Warner
Written by	Elizabeth von Arnim Julius J. Epstein Philip G. Epstein
Starring	Bette Davis Claude Rains
Music by	Franz Waxman Paul Dessau
Cinematography	Ernest Haller
Editing by	Ralph Dawson
Distributed by	Warner Brothers
Release date(s)	1944
Running time	145 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
IMDb profile

Mr. Skeffington is a 1944 film which tells the story of a woman whose many love affairs cost her the love of her husband and her daughter. It stars Bette Davis, Claude Rains, Walter Abel, George Coulouris and Richard Waring.

The movie was adapted by Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein from the novel by Elizabeth von Arnim. It was directed by Vincent Sherman.

[edit] Plot

Davis as Fanny

Bette Davis plays a spoiled young adult growing up in the early 1900s. She is known for her beauty, and has many young suitors. She loves her brother Trippy, Richard Waring, and would do anything to help him. We then meet Mr. Skeffington. Claude Rains gives a magnificent performance as a stockbroker, who employs Trippy. when Fanny learns that Trippy has done something awful, she decides to marry Mr. Skeffington.

The movie's plot centers around their loveless marriage and Fanny's aging. Her old suitors attend a party that she hosts and are shocked at the way Fanny has degraded in beauty. Fanny is distraught at losing her only real talent.

Mr Skeffington loves Fanny but discovers that the feeling isn't mutual and eventually divorces her. He leaves her and his daughter the house and starts a new life in Europe. Mr. Skeffington is Jewish and is taken to a concentration camp where he is blinded. He survives the war and goes back to visit Fanny and Trippy. He cannot see the effect of old age on Fanny and will only ever see her as the beauty she once was which is exactly what Fanny wants. This proves the old adage that love really is blind.